After a documented stay in Rome and a highly probable visit to Parma to study Correggio, Barocci returned to Urbino in 1576. When he painted this work for Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, he had a very personal style that merged the Venetian use of color with what has been called mystic naturalism. Barocci was at his best in small compositions like the present one, where his tenden